Throw it away, you may say. But what if I say you can easily make a dessert out of it, by adding an extra cup of milk?

You can make a delicious bread pudding out of it! You can even save some French bread from the toast and use in it. One effort, two different recipes, one for brunch, one for dessert. Ultimate cooking optimization! Gotta love it!

I’m assuming you have already made some Mother’s Day Treat (Freezable) French Toast, and have about a cup of egg mixture left. You don’t? No worries! You can still make this recipe from scratch, following the instructions underlined below. (Or you can choose to make both at once, starting from the French toast recipe, and freeze it all.) This amount should be enough for a family of 4 for a little dessert after dinner.

Break white bread into bite-size pieces and place them in a buttered 5 to 6” baking dish or individual ramekins. (Remove the crust if it’s very thick) Pour the egg mixture and let it soak completely. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top.

Place the baking dish into a larger baking pan, and pour hot water into the outer pan to about half of the height of the egg mixture. Bake in a 375-400F oven until set, and top is golden brown. Serve warm or cold, with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, or without.

Optional: Omit apples/raisins/dried fruit if you don’t have any. Or use melted bitter or semi-sweet chocolate instead.

So there you have an easy dessert for Mother’s day (or Mother’s Day prep-day) too!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Are you making something special for Valentine’s Day?

How about this Dark Chocolate cookies with black beans?

This is a post by my guest blogger, Michela Vega from www.Strivingbean.com. She’s a Blogger, mom, and web professional, who will help you incorporate beans into your child’s diet. I’m very impressed by what she does, so I begged her to share some of her creation with you all — Dark Chocolate Cookies with Black Beans, perfect timing for Valentine’s Day.

I’m planning to make it tomorrow, and bring to our ski trip on Sunday. Very curious how a chocolate cookies with black beans turn out. They looks and sounds yummy.

Dark Chocolate Cookies with Black Beans Recipe by Striving Bean

I had a need (yes a real need) for chocolate the other day, so I made a batch of Dark Chocolate Cookies. This recipe is a perfect for a chocolate fix – just in time for Valentines Day! They don’t have the typical amount of fat and sugar in many cookie recipes. The secret ingredient? One 15oz. can of black beans. Make your little sweeties (or your big sweetie) a batch. And if you don’t have a sweetie – make yourself a batch. It’s his/her loss!

Here are the cookie highlights:

A light texture – this is likely due to the gluten free white rice flour.

3. Remove bean mixture from food processor, and place in bowl. Add 1 cup canned pumpkin and mix well (can do this in food processor if needed).

4. In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients: rice flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. (It’s important to mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl, so the baking soda & baking powder can be evenly distributed. This helps the cookies rise)

7. Fold in dry ingredients into the chocolate/sugar/black bean mixture. Add 1 cup dark chocolate chips. It is easier if you add small portions of dry ingredients and dark chocolate chips a bit at a time. Mix until just incorporated.

8. Drop a large spoonful per cookie on parchment lined baking sheets. Press 2 additional dark chocolate chips on top of each cookie. (optional, but recommended)

9. Sprinkle additional sugar on top (optional)

10. Bake at 375 F for about 9 to 11 minutes. Cool 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer to cooking rack with a spatula. Cool completely on rack.

I used a lower sodium canned black bean. If you choose to use regular canned black beans, you may want to skip the 1/4 teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) salt.

Since you’ll be storing these cookies in fridge, warm in microwave 7 seconds on high. If storing in freezer, warm in microwave 15 seconds on high.

If you choose to use all-purpose flour (since some readers may not have access to white rice flour), my best guess is the texture will not be as delicate. But I think it’s still worth to experiment with all-purpose flour.

If you are not using canned black beans, 1 and 2/3 cups (1.66 cups) cooked beans is the same amount as a 15 oz can.

I stored extra cookies in the freezer by wrapping individually, then placing in a freezer safe container.

Our family weighs in:

Son loved them – he even knew about the beans.

Daughter really loved them and asked for one in her lunch. This surprised me since she knew about the beans.

Do you have less than perfect apples at home? Just like the one on the right, a bit wrinkly and looking sad that they havebeen ignored?

Give them a second chance! There is an easy way.

My apples were actually looking even sadder than the one on the photo — probably the wrinkles were much more visible.

And here’s how they look now. Happy, sweet and full of life, and everyone’s friend. Who’s to know that they were once neglected and were about to be dumped. It was a very quick turn-around.

Apple preserve

Apple Preserve

Ingredients:

Apples, 2

Lemon juice

Sugar, 1/4 – 1/2 c (depending on how sweet the apples are to start with)

Directions:

Core apples and cut into wedges. Drizzle with lemon juice to prevent from oxidization and toss. Slice them thin and place them in a microwavable container. Add sugar, toss gently and let it stand for 3-5 min.

Cook on high in microwave for 5 minutes. Toss gently and cook another 5 min. Repeat until the apples are cooked and translucent. (Should take total of 15 min or so.) Let it cool. Mash with wooden spoon if you like more jammy consistency.

Note: You can make this on stove top, yet it’ll take longer and you’ll have to watch and keep stirring it.

They are great on toast, top with yogurt, pancakes, crepes… They are super easy, so try it, and leave us a comment on what did you make with it!

Throw it away, you may say. But what if I say you can easily make a dessert out of it, by adding an extra cup of milk.

You can make a delicious bread pudding out of it! You can even save some French bread and use that in it. One effort, two different recipes. Ultimate cooking optimization! Gotta love it! (Or is it just me?)

I’m assuming you have already made some Freezable French Toast, and have about a cup of egg mixture left. You don’t? No worries! You can still make this recipe from scratch, following the instructions underlined below. (Or you can choose to make both at once, starting from the French toast recipe, and freeze it all.) This amount should be enough for a family of 4 for a little dessert after dinner.

Break white bread into bite-size pieces and place them in a buttered 5 to 6” baking dish or individual ramekins. (Remove the crust if it’s very thick) Pour the egg mixture and let it soak completely. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top.

Place the baking dish into a larger baking pan, and pour hot water into the outer pan to about half of the height of the pudding. Bake in a 375-400F oven until set, and top is golden brown. Serve warm or cold, with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, or without.

Optional: Omit apples/raisins/dried fruit if you don’t have any. Or use melted bitter or semi-sweet chocolate instead.

Would you like a dessert recipe for weeknight that you can whip up in about 20 minutes while you are eating dinner or doing dishes, largely unattended?

I thought so. Especially if you can use some pre-cooked left over ingredient from dinner. (Don’t worry, I won’t use anything savory.) Once of very few sweets I actually make and eat is flan. I love sweet potato version more than regular egg and cream version. It’s healthier too.

What you need is grilled or steamed sweet potatoes left over from dinner before. Make sure it’s cooked tender. With these and hand blender, the prep will be done in a minutes. Then all you have to do is steam and wait for it to set.

Whipped Up Sweet Potato Pudding

Place 2 peeled, cooked sweet potatoes (about 2/3 lbs), equal amount of milk and cream, or half and half, and puree until smooth with stick blender.

Add 3 TBS sugar, 2 beaten eggs, and a dash of cinnamon. Mix well.

Strain the sweet potato mixture through a small sieve into heat-proof cups. (It’s filling, so use smaller cups. It also takes less for them to set.)

Steam about 10 – 15 minutes (depending on the size of the cup) until set. Or place cups in a oven-proof pan filled with hot water (to about half of the height of the cups)and bake in toaster-oven (faster) or oven until set.

Optional:

Use soy milk if you are watching calories.

Decorate with whipped cream on top.

If you have extra time, caramelized sugar before pouring in the sweet potato cream will make it even better. (Make sure to apply some butter all over the inside )especially at the bottom first for easier clean-up.

You can use the same filling for sweet potato pie. You may want to use more egg or less milk, since this pudding is pretty loose.

To be honest, I thought the sweet potato cream before heated was quite tasty… If you want to just use it as dessert, be my guest. : )

So next time you grill, make sure to bake some extra sweet potatoes… You can eat some for dinner, and you now have an easy dessert later in the week!

Do you like home-made baked goods, yet feel never have time to bake during the week?

My friend Margaret, who is also a Kitchen Wizard in my opinion, kindly shared her cookie shortcuts.

So here it is… Thank you, Margaret!

One of the tougher things to do during a busy week is to bake, so I always have a reserve of this spiced oatmeal cookie dough in my freezer to satisfy a craving relatively healthfully and inexpensively. These are a little lighter than the recipes calling for two sticks of butter and even from frozen dough, they bake up in only 15 minutes.

If nutmeg is not a spice you use regularly, rather than investing in a whole jar of the pods, purchase a few pods from well-stocked markets’ bulk spice section. Its subtle woodsy flavor really enhances this spice combination nicely.